BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 127: Listen to Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” from start to finish

Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” is considered one of the greatest pieces of music ever written and most people are familiar with its famous, four-note, “bomb, bomb, bomb, boooooomb” opening. Despite its popularity, it dawned on me one day that I’d never listened to this complete symphony, which has been described as “one of the most important works of all time.”

For this reason, I added this symphony to my bucket list a year or so ago and finally took the time to listen to it from start to finish on Sunday night. I’m not a huge fan of classical music, but I was more than a little pleased to cross this item off my bucket list, and all in all, it was a pleasant experience.

Although this work of music is commonly referred to as Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony,” its proper name is “Symphony No. 5 in C Minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op.67” It was written between 1804 and 1808 and was first performed in 1808 in Vienna. This symphony consists of four parts, called movements, and the version I listened to was about 30 minutes long and was performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

I don’t listen to a lot of classical music, but I enjoyed listening to this symphony nonetheless. I mostly just sat there with my earphones in, with my eyes closed, and tried to closely follow the notes of the composition. Classical music puts a lot of people to sleep, but I didn’t catch myself nodding off even once while listening. In fact, the 30 minutes or so that it took to listen to the symphony seemed to pass much more quickly than that.

I also think it’s pretty remarkable that Beethoven wrote this symphony even though he suffered from hearing problems and was almost completely deaf when he died. Despite this handicap, he created some of the most beautiful music in the history of the world, and even today, nearly 200 years after his death, people around the world continue to perform and listen to his music. That’s a type of immortality that few of us will ever enjoy.

Now that I’ve listened to this complete symphony from start to finish, I’m left wanting to watch a live performance of it. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for an opportunity to see it live because my guess is that it’s not performed very often in my neck of the woods. There’s a chance I might be able to catch it in Montgomery and Mobile at some point down the road.

It’s also been said that while Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” is one of the most famous pieces of music ever written, it’s not Beethoven’s best work. Many people consider his “Ninth Symphony” to be his greatest work. Completed in 1824, it was also Beethoven’s final symphony and contains the famous “Ode to Joy” choral sequence. Today, it’s one of the most commonly performed pieces of classical music in the world.

In the end, how many of you have listened to Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” from start to finish? What did you think about? What other bucket list-worthy pieces of music or albums would you recommend listening to from start to finish? Let us know in the comments section below.